AUTHOR'S NOTES: Hey, I'm back with part 2! I'm gonna make this quick. I
wanna
thank Alicia Blade for all her wonderful help and support. She's the best!
Thank you Ariishia-chan! I wanna thank everyone who e-mailed me! You really
helped me keep going! I also want to thank Samarie, Margie (who hasn't read
my story yet, but she's a very busy gal, so I forgive her), Jeni-Jenilee,
and
Bettina-chan! And I wanna thank A Sailor Moon Romance for posting this!
THANK YOU ALL! Anyway, I hope part 2 lives up to your expectations! It's not
as long as part 1, but I didn't wanna keep those of you who were waiting for
part 2 waiting any longer. Hope you enjoy! And e-mail me!! Even if just to
say, "I read your story"! Ja ne!
RATING: G
E-MAIL: edeet@juno.com
Seeing Past Rumors
By Edeet
Part 2:
When Serena finally calmed down from her crying, she got up and stood
in
front of the bathroom mirror. Her eyes were red and very puffy.
"Lita, I can't go outside looking like this! I'm a mess!" she
said,
her voice cracking.
"Serena, you can't stay in here all day either. Why don't you go
home for today? I'm sure the nurse will let you go" said Lita
sympathetically.
"I guess that would be best. I really don't feel like I can go on
today anyway. I'll feel like everyone's staring at me, which they probably
will be" replied Serena. She opened the faucet of the sink in front of her
and started washing her face. She dried her face with some of the toilet
paper and looked at herself again. Her eyes were still puffy but her face
was
no longer tear-streaked.
"Do you want me to come with you to the nurses' office?" asked
Lita.
"No. I can go. Thanks anyway. Really. Thanks, Lita. You're the
best."
"No problem. I know you would've done the same for me" said Lita.
With a sigh she started for the door, "The lunch bell already rang. You sure
you wanna go alone?"
"Yeah. I'll be okay. I'll see you tomorrow" said Serena, with a
half smile.
"No" said Lita, "I'll call you tonight"
"Okay"
As Serena walked towards the nurse's office, she could hear people
snickering and whispering behind her. Just as she's predicted, all eyes were
on her. Serena just wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. She ran
and ran until she reached the nurses' office. She hated going to the school
clinic. The few times she'd gone there, the nurse had acted as if Serena was
lying about her sickness. Sure, she hated school, but she wouldn't lie to
get
out of it. The nurse was a very serious, intimidating, no-nonsense woman.
Her
name was Ms. Yuki. Serena hoped she wouldn't question her too much. She
knocked before entering.
"Come in," said Ms. Yuki.
Serena came in, shyly. "Um, hi. I'm not feeling very well. I was
wondering if I could go home for today" she said nervously.
Ms. Yuki eyed her skeptically.
"What do you have? Stomachache? Headache? Fever? Where does it
hurt?" she said.
In my heart, Serena thought. "I have a really bad headache"
"Sit down in that chair over there" said Ms. Yuki, pointing at a
black chair in the corner. Serena obeyed silently. She watched as Ms. Yuki
took out a thermometer and put a small plastic over it. This was a standard
procedure. Everytime someone went to the clinic, the first thing they did
was
have their temperature taken.
"Open your mouth, please" said Ms. Yuki as she
placed the thermometer in Serena's mouth. Her temperature was normal. Ms.
Yuki continued to drill her about the symptoms...
Lita was walking toward the tree where she usually sat to have lunch
with
Amy and Serena. She began to wonder if Ms. Yuki had let Serena go home.
Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around.
"Lita, where's Serena?" asked Darien. He looked very concerned.
"She went to the clinic. She wasn't feeling well" said Lita,
sighing.
Darien's face filled with alarm and worry. "Is she okay?"
"Physically? Yeah. Emotionally? I really don't know"
"She knows about the rumor, doesn't she?" said Darien. The way he
said it, it was more of a statement than a question.
"Yeah. How'd you find out?"
"Andrew told me" he answered. He took in a deep breath. "But who
would want to do something like this? I could understand them starting a
rumor about me, but why Serena?"
"I don't know why they would do it. Serena gets along with
everyone. She doesn't have any enemies"
"Do you know who started it?"
"We have a clue"
"Who? Tell me!" said Darien, a little more forcefully than he
intended. When I find that lowlife..., he thought.
"We're not sure if she started it, but the person who told me
heard it from Rita Blake"
"Who's Rita Blake?" asked Darien.
"A friend of ours. At least she WAS a friend of ours"
"How's Serena taking this?"
"She's pretty shaken up. That's why she had to go home"
"Do you have her phone number?"
"Yeah. But if you're gonna call her, you should do it before
5 P.M. Her Dad's very overprotective and he usually answers the phone after
5" said Lita as she took out a sheet of paper to write the number on.
"Thanks, Lita" said Darien as he took the piece of paper. Then
he
walked away and sat underneath another tree. Lita continued walking towards
her tree, were Amy was already waiting for her.
Darien sat under tree thinking about what he could do to end this.
Unfortunately, in his experience, rumors never died. They lived forever and
followed you wherever you went. He sighed and took a bite out of an apple he
was eating.
"Hi!" said a familiar, cheerful voice.
"Hey, Andrew" said Darien, unenthusiastically.
"Still bummed, huh?" said Andrew. It was a stupid thing to ask,
but he didn't know what to say to help. "Do you know who started the rumor?"
"No. Who'd you hear it from?" asked Darien.
"Some guys in the lockeroom"
"Lita heard it from a Rita Blake" said Darien.
Andrew choked on his drink. "Rita?! But it can't be Rita!"
"You know her?" asked Darien.
"Yeah! Rita's my girlfriend!" said Andrew, still in awe. He
couldn't believe it. Rita would never do something like that!
"Your girlfriend started this?!" said Darien, rage in his eyes.
"No! It's got to be wrong! Rita's not that kind of person!"
"Well, I suggest you go ask Rita if this is true"
"In any case, I'll ask her who she heard it from, because Rita
is not malicious enough to start something like this on her own. And without
any good reason!"
At the Nurses office, Serena had finally managed to convince the nurse
to let her go. Hand trembling, she signed some papers that she needed to
fill
out. She softly put down the pen she'd used, grabbed her schoolbag, took a
deep breath, and left the school.
After school, Lita was walking towards Serena's when she heard a group
of girls talking and laughing. She recognized one of the girls as Rita
Blake.
Scowling, she approached them.
"Rita, can I talk to you?" she said with a trace of menacing
tone
in her voice.
Rita looked at her uncertainly. "Sure, Lita" she said. She turned to
the
other girls and said, "I'll be right back".
But by the look Lita was giving Rita, the other girls weren't so sure.
Lita motioned Rita to follow her into an alley. Then she stopped and
turned to face Rita. (AN: Isn't that funny? Lita and Rita! HAHA! Umm...
Sorry...)
"Rita, you've heard the rumors about Serena, right?" asked Lita.
"Y-Yes, I have" said Rita.
"Did you start it?" asked Lita.
"You think I'd start something like that?"
"Well somebody heard it from you. In any case you've helped
spread the rumor!"
"I told my best friend, Primi!"
"And your best friend Primi blabbed to everyone else!"
"Look, I'm really sorry! I know it's none of my business what
Serena does-"
"Wait a sec!" said Lita, interrupting, "You actually BELIEVED
those rumors?!"
"Well, somebody saw them kissing!" said Rita, nervously. She
knew
Lita was prone to loosing her temper.
"Who saw them?" said Lita, fists clenching at her sides.
"A-Anne! Anne Granger!"
"Anne? Alan's sister? What exactly did she tell you?"
"Well, she said that she went by Darien's place and the door was
half open and they were making out on the couch and-"
"I think we better go someplace where we can really talk. You're
going to tell me EVERYTHING you heard" said Lita, interrupting again, "Let's
go to the park".
At home, Serena was sitting on her bed. Her eyes were puffy and there
were tear traces on her cheeks. She sat there just staring into space,
trying
to figure out a way to fix it. She looked at the crescent moon clock on her
wall. It was 3:45 P.M. She stood up, put on her shoes, and went downstairs.
She grabbed her coat and ran toward Darien's apartment.
"...And she basically said Serena was 'loose'. I didn't want to
believe her at first, but I thought she was telling the truth! I mean, Anne
had always been nice to me before!" said Rita, as she finished telling Lita
what she'd heard from Anne.
"So she told you that. Well you should know, Rita, that Serena is
NOT loose, that she never kissed Darien, and that she's NEVER kissed anyone
else in her life!" Lita was yelling at Rita by now. What had made her so mad
was that Rita was foolish enough to believe what she heard and that she
never
even bothered to check if it was true. She'd simply passed it along.
"What's going on here?" said a voice.
Lita turned around to see Andrew walking towards them. He'd only been
around long enough to catch Lita yelling at his girlfriend. He wore a slight
scowl.
"I was straightening something out with Rita here" said Lita.
"Well, why did you feel it necessary to scream at her?" said
Andrew calmly. He looked at Rita, who looked like she'd burst into tears any
minute.
"Please, Andrew, it was my fault. I made a terrible mistake
and...
and..." said Rita. She was feeling guilty about what had happened to Serena
and the last thing she needed was to start a fight between Lita and Andrew
because of what she'd done.
"What mistake?" asked Andrew. He was beginning to wonder if
Darien
was right.
"I-I heard some things about someone and I passed it along, even
though I wasn't sure if they were true, and that person is very hurt right
now" she said. More tears came rolling down her cheeks as she remembered
what
Lita told her about how Serena found out.
"You mean Serena?" asked Andrew.
Rita nodded miserably.
"So you didn't start it?" asked Andrew.
"No! I heard it. From Anne Granger" said Rita.
"I have to go. There's something I have to do" said Lita.
"Lita, wait!" said Rita. Lita turned around. "I am really sorry
about all of this!"
"I'm not the one you have to tell" said Lita. She was no longer
scowling at Rita, which Rita was very thankful for. It meant that Lita would
forgive her after she'd cooled down a bit.
Serena heard Darien's doorbell make the familiar "ring" as she pressed
it.
She heard Darien's voice say "Coming", but it was no longer the happier
voice it had been the day of their meeting. Now he sounded bored and kind of
"down in the dumps". Serena knew it must be because of the rumors. He
probably didn't want his reputation ruined by a girl like her. I mean, she
wasn't pretty, and he was so handsome. He probably felt insulted that
someone
would think he'd choose a short, klutzy crybaby for a girlfriend. She felt
tears forming in her eyes again. She took a deep breath as she heard the
door
open.
"Serena!" said Darien. He looked happy to see her, but kind of
sad
at the same time.
"Hi, Darien. Can I come in?" she said, forcing a smile.
"Sure!" said Darien, stepping back as she came inside.
Darien looked at her intensely. It was obvious she'd been crying. Her
eyes were puffy and red and she had tear tracks on her cheeks. She looked
positively miserable.
"Um...I won't take up much of your time, Darien. I just wanted to
tell you I'm really sorry about what's going on and..." she said miserably,
looking at her shoes, hands clasped together in front of her chest.
Darien shook his head slowly. "No, Serena. You have nothing to
apologize
for. This wasn't your fault. This was done by a pea-brained idiot who had
too
much free time"
Serena giggled at that, a small smile forming on her lips. Darien
smiled
too.
"I can't believe you had to go through this at every school you
went through" said Serena, thinking about how horrible Darien must've felt
with everyone telling and believing rumors about him.
"It got hard sometimes, but mostly I just ignored them" he said
shrugging. He looked at Serena and gave her a half-smile. "Look, I know this
is gonna be hard, and it's going to be long, but we can get through it
together" he said.
"But if we hang out together, or even talk to each other people
might believe it even more!" said Serena.
"Well, we HAVE to meet with each other for the project. They know
we both care about our grades"
"Hmm...You maybe, but I don't think they would think I care about
my grades" she said sadly.
"Serena, do you care about your grades?"
"I do, but it's so hard, and I don't understand it! I mean, it'd
be nice to come home with a B or even a C. Heck, even a D would be nice! But
I never...I guess I just never really had anyone who believed I could do it.
My parents tell me I MUST do it. Raye says I CAN'T do it. Amy says I SHOULD
do it. Mina and Lita don't really talk about school and grades that much.
But
nobody says I CAN do it"
Darien put his arm around her shoulders, which made a shiver run down
her spine.
"Well I say you can. I really believe in you Serena. You have
everything it takes to be a good student. You just haven't found a way to
use
it yet. But I'm going to help you" said Darien.
"How?"
"I could be your tutor. Or we could study together after school
everyday and I could help you with your schoolwork"
"Isn't that the same thing as being my tutor?" said Serena
smiling.
"Ah! So you got the hint!" said Darien with a quirky smile.
"I guess I could..."
"If you wanna think about it first, or run it by your parents, I
can wait for an answer"
"Hmmm...Mom and Dad would probably say yes because they'd think
I'm showing interest in my schoolwork, which is what they wish for everytime
they see a shooting star, so I just might be able to do it! Thanks, Darien!
You're the best!" she said hugging him.
This caught Darien by surprise. He'd NEVER been hugged. Slowly he put
his arms around her. He also couldn't believe what she'd just said. The only
positive things that had ever been said about him were that he was handsome
and that he was a good student. Someone had said he was probably a good
singer. But no one had ever said anything about HIM. His personality. His
heart. He felt his heart soar.
"I have to go now. Mom will kill me if I'm not home by dinner!
Thank you so much, Darien! You made me feel a lot better!" said Serena,
snapping Darien out of his thoughts.
"No problem, Serena"
"Bye!" she said running out the door.
Darien walked out onto his balcony. He looked down at the street and he
saw Serena walking out of the apartment building. He smiled, remembering her
words.
'...Thanks, Darien! You're the best!...Thank you so much!...You
made me feel a lot better!...'
He smiled. I made her feel better! Me! I made her happy!, he thought.
He
took a deep breath and, still smiling, walked back inside.
That's the end of part 2! Look for part 3 soon! Ja ne!